Medical terms A–Z

A shunt is a surgically created pathway that redirects blood or other body fluid from its normal route to another location.

A rare, inherited disorder in which the pancreas and bone marrow do not work the way they should.

An inherited fault in assembling ribosomes that starves the pancreas and the marrow of machinery they need more than most tissues.

Any of a group of simple sugar molecules.

A vaccine composed of a substance that enhances immunity plus an antigen found on some tumors of the colon, breast, lung, ovary, pancreas, and stomach.

An inherited disease in which the red blood cells have an abnormal crescent shape, block small blood vessels, and do not last as long as normal red blood cells.

One letter changed in a hemoglobin gene is enough to stiffen red cells into crescents that jam small vessels and break up early.

A side effect is any effect of a medication, procedure, or other treatment beyond the one it was specifically intended to produce.

A surgical procedure in which the side of the colon is attached to the anus after the rectum has been removed.

A disorder marked by anemia caused by iron deficiency, and a web-like growth of membranes in the throat that makes swallowing difficult.

A conclusion reached only by ruling everything else out, which is why the investigation is so thorough and so painful.

Narrow, muscular and free to swing on its own fold of tissue, this segment collects more than its share of colon problems.

A sigmoidoscope is a lighted, tube shaped instrument used to view and sometimes sample tissue from the rectum and lower colon.

Examination of the lower colon using a sigmoidoscope, inserted into the rectum.

How a message arriving at the cell surface is converted into action inside, growing louder at every step of the relay.

A substance that blocks signals passed from one molecule to another inside a cell.

Relay races rather than single messengers: every handover amplifies the message and gives the cell another point at which it can intervene.

A biological molecule found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that is a sign of a normal or abnormal process, or of a condition or disease.

A highly malignant type of cancer typically found in glandular cells that line the digestive organs.

A word that promises far less than it sounds like it does: a result unlikely to be chance, not a result that matters.